Reading instruction provided by classroom, remedial, and resource teachers (n=48) in six schools was observed. Findings showed that the three groups did not differ in the proportion of time devoted to management, discipline, or proactive teaching techniques. Comparable time was also devoted to comprehension, decoding, and indirect reading…

The paper presents a research-based case for mnemonic instruction with mildly disabled students, and recommends learning tasks, designs, and implementation formats. Evolution of the research, from theory-driven laboratory research to long-term classroom applications, is described. Recommendations are offered for further research. (Author/JDD)

A resource components cost model was used to establish accurate benchmark cost and resource use estimates from two special schools for youth with moderate and severe mental retardation located within metropolitan area school districts. An accounting framework is presented that can be replicated for assessing service costs and for decision making.…

In 2 studies, 36 junior high students and 66 intermediate-level students with mild disabilities worked together to complete computerized instructional activities on capitalization and punctuation. The intervention produced significant increases in behaviors that were positively related with learning but did not produce significant increases in…

Intervention strategies for use with students with mild learning and behavior problems were rated by 232 teachers and were factor analyzed, resulting in 5 factors for intervention use (principal involvement, teacher intervention, special education, teacher consultation, and parent involvement) and 5 for reasonability (teacher intervention,…

A statistical comparison was conducted of 120 Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) of intermediate-grade male students with behavioral disorders and learning disabilities in resource and self-contained programs. Differences were found in terms of federal mandate compliance, number of annual goals and completed short-term objectives, and…

The study reports on a treatment package which effectively used constant time delay, practice in writing or spelling target words, and token reinforcement to teach sight word recognition to a group of three seven-year-old students in a learning and behavior disorders resource room. (Author/JDD)

State directors (N=52) of teacher education and certification were surveyed concerning special education certification and recertification requirements, the means by which these requirements are met, and factors that might have led to changes in requirements. Dramatic changes were found in special education coursework requirements for the…

The introduction to the special section introduces three papers and two commentaries originally presented at the 1989 Project Directors' Meeting of the Federal Office of Special Education Programs panel discussion focusing on the importance of individual differences and critical methodological and conceptual considerations. (DB)

The paper presents an analysis of aptitude-treatment interaction (ATI) as it relates to individual differences in special education. Stressed is the importance of heterogeneity of participants and interventions, of psychological interactions, and the need for applying multivariate and transactional approaches to ATI concepts. (DB)

The effective teaching literature is reviewed in relation to selected approaches to individualization of instruction with handicapped children. The instructional setting, as a salient variable in instructional adaptations for individual differences, is questioned. Educators are encouraged to emphasize the function, not the form, of instructional…

The paper suggests that the current aptitude-treatment interaction approach to accommodating individual differences in special education has not been proved instructionally useful. Formative evaluation is offered as a promising alternative that addresses individual uniqueness rather than dimensionalized individual differences. (Author/DB)

The commentary on three papers (EC 231 669-671) concerned with individual differences in special education notes agreement on the lack of empirical evidence that educational techniques specially adapted to characteristics of the learner differentially enhance learning. Stressed is the importance of the learner's ecological context--cultural,…

The commentary on three papers (EC 231 669-671) concerned with individual differences in special education considers the issue in light of the history of educational research and concludes that mindful pluralism is the dominant order of the day in special education research and policy. (DB)

The paper discusses alternative research approaches to special education including positivist case studies, the interpretivist approach in general, and three variations within interpretivist anthropology--traditional ethnography, microethnography, and the study of everyday cognition. (DB)